An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island
| starring = Haley Joel Osment Lacey Chabert Irene Bedard Winona Ryder Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje René Auberjonois David Carradine John Kassir Sherman Howard Tony Jay Martin Landau Angela Lansbury Steve Martin Ron Perlman | music = Michael Kamen James Horner & Hans Zimmer (archive music from An American Tail and An American Tail: Fievel Goes West) | studio = Warner Bros. Family Entertainment Warner Bros. Feature Animation Regency Enterprises Amblin Entertainment American Zoetrope TMS-Kyokuichi Corporation (Japanese animation studio) | distributor = Warner Bros. | released = | runtime = 78 minutes | country = United States | language = English |}}An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island (also known as An American Tail III: The Treasure of Manhattan Island) is a 1998 American animated family musical film directed by Rob Minkoff, Stephen Sommers and Larry Latham and produced by Don Hahn, Francis Ford Coppola, Sofia Coppola and James Jacks. It explains the second film was a dream and takes place after Fievel wakes up. It was the third film in the An American Tail series and the first to be released straight to video. The film first premiered in the United Kingdom in 1998 and was released in the United States in 2000 by Regency Enterprises, American Zoetrope and Warner Bros. Pictures. Haley Joel Osment and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje both took over the roles of Fievel Mousekewitz and Tiger from the original actors Phillip Glasser and James Earl Jones. Three actors from the original film (Martin Landau, Angela Lansbury and Winona Ryder) reprised their roles. Tony Toponi returns in this movie as part of the main cast (after his limited appearance on the second film and his absence from the short lived TV series). The subplots of this film were found "too inappropriate for the franchise", as regarded by Common Sense Media. Plot The story begins in New York City setting sometime after the second movie in the year 1910, as Fievel and Tony discover that an ancient treasure lies underneath Manhattan when snooping around an abandoned subway (the Beach Pneumatic Transit system) and stumbling upon the remains of a dead mouse clutching a treasure map, deciding they must find it with the help of an archaeologist Tony knows: Dr. Dithering, along with fighting five villains as well. The movie focuses on the relationship between the over-exploited workers of a sweatshop (in this case, a cheese production line) and the factory's robber baron owners: Mr. Grasping (Ron Perlman), Mr. Toplofty (Tony Jay) and Mr. O'Bloat (Steve Martin). It also focuses on the plight of the Native Americans in the United States. The treasure under Manhattan turns out to be a group of Lenape mice living a long distance beneath the surface (far below the sewers, riding in an underground pressurized train) that decided to hide when they saw how the first Europeans only brought war and disease with them and didn't want to wait for the European mice to do the same to them. An emotional scene ensues when Fievel must struggle with how cruel his own people, the Europeans, were (and still are at the time the film takes place) to the natives of America. The sachem, Chief Wulisso (David Carradine), decides to send his daughter Cholena (Elaine Bilstad), to the surface to see if they have "changed their ways." Upon their return, Scuttlebutt (John Kassir) (one of the members of the expedition to find the treasure) reports to the villains unbeknownst to the rest of the members of the expedition, who then decide to use this to their advantage. They lie to all the workers of the sweatshop about Cholena (obviously not by name), telling them that she is their enemy. The mouse NYPD Chief, McBrusque (Sherman Howard) and Scuttlebutt engage in a bout of police brutality, scavenging every nook and cranny until they find her. After the angry mouse mob try to capture Cholena and anyone else involved with her, Fievel and his friends decide to take Cholena back underground, but the police find out and go after them. Meanwhile, everyone finds out about Dr. Dithering's friendship with the Indian and take him to the butcher shop for his execution. Papa tells everyone about how madness like this is why they all left for America and should work together to become friends with those different from them as the fellow Americans they are. Tiger saves Dr. Dithering from the villains, who escape and order McBrusque and his men to find and murder the Native Americans. Upon returning Cholena to her home, they tell the chief what is happening. McBrusque, Scuttlebutt, and the other police officers show up to the village, but the Chief, the Native Americans, Fievel and his friends drive the villains away. The chief gives them a gunpowder bomb to collapse the tunnel connecting the Native Americans to the outside world. But before they can do so, they are ambushed by the enraged McBrusque and Scuttlebutt who attempt to kill the kids once and for all, but the two crooks are overpowered and Fievel manages to set of the bomb. This floods the tunnel, together with McBrusque and Scuttlebutt as they fall into the chasm to their deaths. Tony and Tanya managed to reach higher ground, but Fievel is seemingly carried off by the current. When the water recedes Tanya and Tony desperately search through the mud to find him, before giving up. But just then, Fievel breaks through the surface, and they all three share a muddy group hug, thankful that everyone survived. The movie ends with Fievel's papa forming a worker's union and the villains agreeing amongst themselves to negotiate "with that riff-raff" because otherwise, they'll go on strike and make them go bankrupt while Tiger the cat, who is now the new police chief, watches them. The last scene is Fievel seeing, through a foldable telescope, Cholena and her father disappearing into a hidden door at the foot of a statue, which pleases Fievel. Voice cast * Haley Joel Osment (speaking) and Bryan Adams (singing) as Fievel Mousekewitz * Lacey Chabert as Tanya Mousekewitz * Martin Landau as Papa Mousekewitz * Angela Lansbury as Mama Mousekewitz * Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Tiger * Winona Ryder (speaking) and Jennifer Love Hewitt (singing) as Tony Toponi * René Auberjonois as Dr. Dithering * Irene Bedard (speaking) and Judy Kuhn (singing) as Cholena, daughter of the chief * David Carradine as Chief Wulisso * Ron Perlman as Mr. Grasping * Tony Jay as Mr. Toplofty * Steve Martin as Mr. O'Bloat * Sherman Howard as Police Chief McBrusque * John Kassir as Scuttlebutt * Jamieson Price as Looper * Nehemiah Persoff as Stage Coach Driver * Eden Riegel as Additional Tanya Dialogue Due to disputes with this film's concept, the characters that debuted in this installment would not be reused in the final chapter, as being completely replaced with more less-diverse cast. Soundtrack *"We Live in Manhattan" Words and Music Composed by Michael Kamen and Stephen Schwartz Performed by Michael-Leon Wooley, Amick Byram, Jodi Benson, Melissa Disney and Cameron Clarke Background Vocals Performed by Randy Crenshaw, Jim Jonah Cummings, Edie Lehmann Boddicker, Donna Medine, Sally Stevens, Susan Stevens Logan, Arnold McCuller, Bob Joyce and Clydene Jackson Produced by Michael Kamen and Douglas Besterman Arranged by Michael Kamen, Martin Erskine and Douglas Besterman *"Friends of the Working Mouse" Words and Music Composed by Michael Kamen andStephen Schwartz Performed by Ron Perlman, Tony Jay, and Steve Martin Produced by David Foster, John Van Tongeren and Michael Kamen Arranged by Michael Kamen and Douglas Besterman *"Through The Eyes of Love" Written by Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager Performed by Jennifer Love Hewitt Produced by Meredith Brooks, Nick Glennie-Smith, Michael Kamen and Jonathan Sacks Arraged by Michael Kamen and Nick Glennie-Smith Jennifer Love Hewitt appears courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp. *"Anywhere in Your Dreams" Words and Music Composed by Michael Kamen, Robert John "Mutt" Lange, Carole Bayer Sager and Bryan Adams Additional Words Written by Stephen Schwartz Performed by Bryan Adams and Judy Kuhn Produced by Bryan Adams, Michael Kamen and Douglas Besterman Arranged by Michael Kamen and Douglas Besterman Bryan Adams appears courtesy of A&M Records, Inc. Release Warner Home Video first advertised this film on a VHS release of Quest for Camelot in 1998, but was consequently put on hold assuming due to complications of this film. After nearly the two-year hiatus, the film was released on VHS in February 15, 2000. Then it was released on DVD in 2004, with a sing-along version of "Anywhere In Your Dreams" as a bonus feature, with the visual effects and Tony's yellings muted out. It was the last time the film was released on home media alone. However, it was combined with three other movies on June 13, 2017. Reception Robert Pardi of TV Guide rated it 2/5 stars and wrote, "Although the bright and bubbly animation lacks depth, these cute little vermin have just enough personality to make tykes unaware they're being spoonfed ethnic-harmony aphorisms." Susan King of the Los Angeles Times wrote that it will probably bore anyone over age 10, but young children will probably enjoy it. The film itself was panned by fans for the retconning of Fievel Goes West and derailing Tony Toponi's concept in favor of his pairing with Bridget in the original film. Social Issues Unlike the previous films and the next film, this film has dealt with issues, involving racism and police brutality. Grace Montgomery of Common Sense Media felt like it was more "out of place for An American Tail", as one protester was beaten senselessly by police thugs, as well as Tony gets slammed against the wall by Scuttlebutt, and the term "injun" was used by the antagonist. Montgomery was also concerned about the Lenape mice were depicted as stereotypes of actual Native Americans. Common Sense Media recommended that "You should stick with An American Tail and skip this one.". References External links * A review of An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island * Category:1998 direct-to-video films Category:1998 films Category:Direct-to-video sequel films Category:Films set in the 1880s Category:Films featuring anthropomorphic mice Category:Direct-to-video prequel films Category:American animated films Category:American films Category:Films set in New York City Category:Rail transport films Category:Films set in Manhattan Category:Fictional mice and rats Category:1998 animated films Category:1990s American animated films Category:An American Tail Category:Films about animals Category:Animated films about animals Category:Warner Bros. direct-to-video animated films Category:Regency Enterprises films Category:Amblin Entertainment animated films Category:American Zoetrope films Category:Film scores by Michael Kamen Category:Musicals by Michael Kamen and Stephen Schwartz Category:Musicals by Stephen Schwartz (composer) Category:Films directed by Rob Minkoff Category:Films directed by Stephen Sommers Category:Films produced by Sofia Coppola Category:Films produced by Don Hahn Category:Films produced by Francis Ford Coppola Category:Films produced by James Jacks Category:Films produced by Sean Daniel Category:Films with screenplays by Frank Darabont Category:Films with screenplays by Linda Woolverton Category:Film scores by Blake Neely Category:Film scores by Kenneth Burgomaster Category:Film scores by Nick Glennie-Smith Category:Film scores by John Van Tongeren Category:Warner Bros. Family Entertainment films